The city of Rutland is getting $200,000 in federal funds to help reduce killings related to domestic violence.

The city is one of just 12 across the nation slated to receive funding under a new domestic violence homicide prevention initiative being overseen by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The goal is to reduce the number of domestic violence killings by identifying potential victims and monitoring high-risk offenders.

But police and domestic violence prevention advocates believe the award has more to do with an ongoing community intervention initiative among prosecutors, police, social workers, and others, rather than with the level of domestic violence cases in Rutland. No homicide related to domestic violence has been committed in the city for more than a decade.